The invention relates to an emergency track ring for tubeless pneumatic tires adapted to be mounted on flat bed rims for commercial vehicles.
Pneumatic tires may be damaged by external objects or effects to the extent that they suddenly lose their air. In the process, the flange of the tire loses its solid seat and its seated position on the rim, with the result that the vehicle is essentially deprived of its directional stability of steerability. In such cases, continued travel produces strong friction because of the settling of the internal side of the tire cover onto the rim and eventually leads to the complete destruction of the faulty tire after a short distance. In order to enable the use of the defective tire over an appreciable distance until it may be replaced, the above mentioned emergency track rings serve to hold the tire flange in position and to support the flange against the tire deprived of its air.
Emergency track rings consisting of a rubber ring in the form of a hollow chamber tire in which the inner space of the tire is filled completely or partially are known. These emergency track rings have not found acceptance in practice because they result in an excessive total weight of the tire and/or are very difficult to mount. Furthermore, tires filled completely or partially with emergency track rings lose the optimum spring action for which pneumatic tires are known, or else, in the case of loss of air and deformation of the tire, friction still remains between the emergency track ring and the internal surface of the tire cover too great to permit the continued travel of the vehicle.